Finally Confirming a Hunch

   
I had always figured that the surname Welcheck was an americanized spelling, but it's origin had yet to be identified.  Thanks to pilot.familysearch.org  I was able to locate a marriage record that has given me the evidence I needed.
I knew from oral family history and census records that Margaret Busch and Stephen Welcheck were married in Ohio in 1887.   I did a marriage record search using Margaret Busch, 1887, & Ohio as the search criteria with 'exact & close matches' allowed and got the following result:

Now I can go forth and scour the immigration records for the elusive Stephen Vleck ...
Just one more small but wonderful find on the free Family Search site that Ancestry.com could not fullfill.

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Occupation: Iron Moulder

Stephen Welcheck  born.14 Dec 1864 in Bohemia, Austria, son of Frank Welcheck & Katrina Plumsky, listed his occupation in several census records including the 1900 U.S. Federal Census (seen in the post dated 08/19/2010) as an Iron Moulder.

An iron moulder made moulds (or molds) from which castings were made.
The moulder used a special wooden pattern or wax model to shape the mould. The model was then removed (or lost) leaving the shape required and creating the mould.

A moulding floor of a foundry.

An iron founder founds or casts iron using moulds.

Note on spelling differences: 
Most words ending in an unstressed –our in British English (colour, flavour, honour, neighbour, rumour, labour) end in –or in American English (color, flavor, honor, neighbor, rumor, labor).

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Follow Friday - Greetings from Porva, Hungary

 

I just received a very nice comment on one of my posts:

Towns of our Ancestors: Porva, Hungary

So for this Follow Friday I would like to share Trudy's blog:

http://porvainn.blogspot.com/

(...and for those of us with weak foreign language skills, use the Google translate tool to read in English.)

Thank you for contacting us Trudy.
Best wishes,
Theresa

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Finding Grandma Rose

The Welcheck Family as shown in the 1900 US Federal Census:

(click image for larger view)

Residing in Barberton, Summit Co., Ohio:

Stephen Welchek   age 36  and  Maggie Welchek   age34

with children:
John Welchek   age 11
Mary Welchek   age 8
Robert Welchek   age 5
Rosa Welchek   age 2

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Wordless Wednesday: Mother and Son

Rose Treasa (Welcheck) Casteel  (1897- 1994)

 with her son, James S. Casteel (1928-2002)

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Touring Newport , RI

What genealogist on vacation can tour an historic part of town and not detour into the local cemetery?
This cemetery, located in Newport, RI, was very large and extremely compelling; so near the end of the day we wandered though it marveling at all the very old tombstones that were still clearly readable. Although we have no known ancestors interred here, I couldn't help but take just a couple random photos.

Memories of Atlantis Park

Established in 1963, Atlantis Park is one of the oldest parks in Garden Grove, California. The four acre park is designed to look like the lost city of Atlantis.

This park holds great nostalgia for me. I can still clearly remember playing there, sliding the long dragon slide, climbing on the bumps of the sea serpent, and going on the whale slide where you emerge out of the mouth of the whale.
The park is still alive and well today with an admission of only $1. Plus, according to one recent online review, you won't see sketchy looking people because the park requires kids to be accompanied by an adult and adults can't get in without kids.

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America in Color from 1939-1943

Trucks outside of a starch factory. Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The DenverPost.com recently highlighted some wonderful photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office.

 Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943

The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. 

This interesting collection of photographs is searchable by keyword, location, and subject. Click Here to view the whole collection.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress


At the Vermont state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress


Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Children in the tenement district. Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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Ellis Island

Ellis Island

 Past & Present

c. 1905

June 2010

 taken by T.Casteel from the Carnival cruise ship Glory


http://www.ellisisland.org/

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Help for Arlington National Cemetery Records

Digitizing paper records and maps of Arlington National Cemetery:

A group of Northern Virginia companies is partnering with the Army to provide free information technology assistance related to record keeping at Arlington National Cemetery.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org

Fifteen companies will assess the Army's IT needs for the cemetery and work to digitize paper records and maps, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced.
The Army inspector general released a report in June that found poor record keeping allowed grave sites to be poorly marked or, in some cases, not marked at all.
"All of us were frustrated and angered to learn that Arlington Cemetery officials continued to rely on paper records, which means we are one fire, rainstorm or coffee-spill away from damaging or even losing these truly irreplaceable records," Warner said.
The companies who will provide the assessment, and eventually a written report to the Army, are all members of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia.

15 NVTC member participating companies

»  ACS, a Xerox Company
»  Blue Canopy
»  Booz Allen Hamilton
»  CACI
»  CGI
»  Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
»  Corporation for National Research Initiatives
»  CSC
»  IBM
»  Lee Technologies
»  MAXIMUS
»  Microsoft
»  MITRE
»  SoltechOne
»  Vistronix

"Our members -- particularly our board members -- read the initial news reports in June, and were just horrified," said Bobbie Kilberg, CEO of NVTC. "I mean, the thought that this could be going on at our national cemetery really left them very, very disturbed. They are Americans, they are citizens, they are human beings and people who believe we ought to be treating the people who [have] served in the armed forces much better than that."
"Our members -- particularly our board members -- read the initial news reports in June, and were just horrified," said Bobbie Kilberg, CEO of NVTC. "I mean, the thought that this could be going on at our national cemetery really left them very, very disturbed. They are Americans, they are citizens, they are human beings and people who believe we ought to be treating the people who [have] served in the armed forces much better than that."
Arlington National Cemetery contains more than 330,000 graves on 200 acres in northern Virginia. More than 100 military burials are conducted at Arlington each week, and four million visitors pay their respects each year.
"It's just a start -- it's just a stopgap, but at least assessing where we need to go from here in a rapid fashion and bringing in [this] private sector expertise...at no cost to the taxpayer is an important step forward," Warner said. "It's important to the brave men and women and all of the military families who are interned at Arlington, but also to all Americans. This is all part of our legacy and history."

Source:  David Sherfinski
Examiner Staff Writer  - Washington Examiner

 

A note on WWII Grumman Wildcats

During World War II several automobile plants, including one where my grandfather worked in New Jersey, was re-engineered to produce Grumman Wildcat fighter planes before resuming automobile production in 1946.

By late June 1942, Grumman found itself hard pressed to maintain maximum production of it's aircraft. As a result, production of the Wildcat was transferred to five east coast General Motors automobile plants. The automobile manufacturer converted these factories to aircraft production under the name Eastern Aircraft Division. The General Motors FM-2 was the most numerous Wildcat variant produced. From 1943 to the end of the war, General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Divison built more than four thousand FM-2s - nearly 70% of all Wildcats produced.

For more information & photos see:  General Motors FM-2 "Wildcat" fighters

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The Oldest Surviving Timber-Frame House in North America

The Fairbanks House is the oldest surviving timber-frame house in North America.
Built c.1637 in Dedham, MA, by Jonathan Fairebanke for his wife Grace (Lee Smith) and family.

 Floor plan of the first floor, from "American Architect and Building News", 1881.

The house was occupied through eight generations of the family until the early twentieth century.
It is now owned and operated by the Fairbanks Family in America as an historic house museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 c.1940

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